De Luigi Ciamburro / Corsedimoto.com
The Italian technician who helps French talent climb to the top of MotoGP speaks. “Fabio was a logical choice. Now he deserves all our support. »
Despite his young age, engineer Diego Gubellini has been a MotoGP technician for over twenty years, alongside some of the best riders in the world. Last season he was Franco Morbidelli's technical guru at Honda, and since this year he has shared Fabio Quartararo's unbridled rise to power. Three podiums and three poles during the rookie's first 12 races, a concentration of pure talent which projects him as a potential successor to Valentino Rossi on the official Yamaha M1. And part of the credit can only go to its Bolognese chief technician Diego Gubellini, who among other things manages the Gripone company, investing his knowledge for the creation of products that can make production motorcycles more efficient.
How much does your experience matter to the Gripone brand?
“We were born in 2010 and there are many things that I can acquire as a technical director in MotoGP. In Europe, there are three or four of us manufacturing this type of product, also because we are not companies that generate I don't know what figures. On the other hand, the motorcycles are equipped with traction control and an electronic gearbox as standard. These are products related to sports use, they are suitable for those who want to go to the track and looking for more power. »
In MotoGP, with a unified control unit and inertial platform, how can individual electronics make the difference?
“In reality, even if the control unit and the software that manages the control unit are unified, as well as the inertial unit, there are so many functionalities and regulation possibilities in the same software that it is in fact as if it wasn't unique. Since there are a variety of strategies aimed at having one type of control over another, all strategies are largely adaptable depending on many parameters. So already the choice of the parameter to use, the way to use it, with what intrusion, allow the system to work or not. »
How important is the driver in this electronic process?
“In terms of performance, the driver matters more than anything else. Electronics give you continuity and regularity in the race, but do not give performance. If a rider trains without electronics, he can perform a single lap, with or without traction control, with or without anti-wheelie, more or less at the same level. It is therefore the driver who makes the difference in terms of pure performance. As for the race, the driver is helped because the system corrects all the small errors made by the driver, because he does not always pass at the same point, he does not open the throttle in the same way, he does not always the same concentration. The electronics therefore take care of the regularity. Then there are pilots who make the difference, who better understand how the electronics work, and so we go faster to reach the ideal setting rather than taking time. »
Just a few months ago, almost no one would have bet on Fabio Quartararo. How does he experience this feat?
“The choice of Fabio by the Petronas team was completely logical. When they had to decide who to put on a satellite M1, they started with the Moto2 rankings in hand. They wanted to bet on a young man... At that time, Bagnaia had already signed with Ducati, Oliveira with KTM, Mir with Suzuki. Binder had decided to stay in Moto2, and the other names who had won races were few, among them Fabio Quartararo. Then, you had to understand that he had a lot of room for improvement, so the choice was completely logical. When they told me his name, I wasn't surprised. »
Quartararo does not have an official M1. By 2020, Yamaha and Petronas will be able to guarantee him the fourth factory bike?
" I hope so. I'm his technical director, but I'm not responsible for that kind of thing. I think he absolutely deserves it, but we don't know yet. »
How do you explain that he manages to be faster than Valentino Rossi and Maverick Viñales on many weekends?
“Fabio has a riding style that fits very well with the Yamaha and he is certainly a talented rider. That said, some weekends he was going faster, but for now it's not a constant. You don't always see beginners go so fast straight away, he felt good on the bike, he didn't need to change his riding style too much. He does his job well and sometimes he is faster than the officials. But if we look at the results, it is the officials who are in the lead, so it seems to me that everything is in order (laughs). But it must also be said that Rossi and Viñales have to continue development and therefore have less time to devote to the race weekend, while we have more time to prepare for the race. »
How important is Fabio Quartararo's data for other Yamaha riders?
“Data is fully shared, it has always been this way. It's like that at Honda too. The fastest driver makes his data available. Both experienced pilots and newcomers do it. There is a common server between Yamaha and Petronas that we can watch in real time. »
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